Question of the Day

Whose side of the story do you believe?

Carolina can't win

"What a shock to see a photo of the flagpole atop the state capitol in South Carolina. They're flying the federal flag," says Lew Rockwell, president of the free-market Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Ala."The U.S. government's flag has no business on a state capitol, and indeed it never flew there until [Abraham] Lincoln wrecked the decentralized republic of the framers."Mr. Rockwell explains further in an article titled "Rebellion: Two Kinds," or why the civil rights movement is beloved and the Confederacy is hated.Hint: It has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with consolidation.

McCain's High Rock

Sen. John McCain has been christened the White House Laird by the Sunday Mail of Scotland.But while the Glasgow-based newspaper was happy to lay out his claimed Scottish heritage for its readers (Mr. McCain's autobiography, "Faith Of My Fathers," goes into lyrical detail about his links to Robert the Bruce, a famed clan chief, and other Highland fighters) it has some bad news for the would-be Republican nominee.The family estate he lays claim to Lenox Castle, in Caswell County, N.C. is not his ancestral home, even if the senator writes that the first McCain to settle in America built the castle.The Sunday Mail actually went in pursuit, only to discover that Lenox Castle, built in the mid-1700s, looks nothing like its name (it's a pretty but simple white clapboard house), but also that it has no connection to Mr. McCain.But if the senator is eager to aspire to lofty genealogy linked to historic property, then the Sunday Mail has good news for him. There is a former family pile a couple of miles down the road. It is High Rock House. Built by Joseph McCain one assumes him to be the candidate's great-great-great-great-grandfather it is a three-story brick mansion with a meticulously maintained Georgian interior.But if Mr. McCain is pleased to hear about a family link with such a grand sounding home as Lenox Castle, he'll be delighted now. The home his family built is far finer than that.Considered one of the most impressive historic homes in the region, it's a much more imposing establishment than Lenox Castle.It just doesn't sound anywhere near as grand.As North Carolina history professor Linley Butler tells the Sunday Mail: "He followed a flawed family tree. Whoever did it for him got it wrong."All of this leaves Maggie Hall, the Sunday Mail's Washington-based U.S. correspondent and frequent contributor to Inside the Beltway, with the nagging thought: "If this bit isn't right, what else has he got wrong?"She's also surprised to learn that she had to break the news of Mr. McCain's strong and colorful tartan claims to the head of the New Hampshire St. Andrew's Society.He is state Rep. Stephen Avery, who also happens to be chairman of the New Hampshire McCain for President Committee.

Why we're here

There's a good chance that in another century or so, the Senate roll-call vote from President Clinton's impeachment trial will go on display in the rotunda of the National Archives.After all, the roll call for former President Andrew Johnson's far-less-titillating 1868 impeachment will go on display tomorrow.The nation's capital, if you didn't know, is observing the 200th anniversary of the move of Congress to Washington. To celebrate, Archives is showcasing the central roles the House and Senate played during crucial points in American history.Yesterday, we were given a sneak peek of "Treasures of Congress" 26 cases full and spotted the first "Journal of the U.S. Senate," recording the electoral vote count that crowned, er, elected George Washington as the nation's first president.Also on display are the credentials of two path-breaking members of Congress: Hiram Revels, 1870, of Mississippi, the nation's first black senator; and Jeanette Rankin, 1916, of Montana, the first congresswoman.There is Rep. John Quincy Adams' 1836 handwritten motion objecting to the House's "Gag Rule," which automatically tabled any discussion of petitions relating to the abolition of slavery (Adams was finally successful in getting a suspension of the rule in 1844).And finally, which is the reason many of us are here in Washington today, a Senate resolution, dated May 1800, "appointing the time and place for the next meeting of Congress."Before adjourning in Philadelphia, the first Congress of the United States, through the resolution, set the time and place for the next meeting: The City of Washington, the third Monday of November, 1800.